The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-12-16
CHAPTER V.
A LOCOMOTIVE LEFT BEHIND.


At length we reached the EtOwah river
and safely passed over the great bridge
at that point. No stop was made, though
the first serious cause for anxiety was
here visible Hitherto every. hing had
worked exactly as we had calculated, and
our confidence in our leader and in final
success was correspondingly increased;
but on side track which connected with
, little branch road that ran up the
river about five miles to the Etowah iron
works and rolling mills, there stood 8
locomotivel 1t was but a short distance
from US, and the smoke from the funnel
showed too plainly that it was ready for
work, thus constituting an element of the
most dangerous character which had not
been embraced in our calculations. It
was named the Yonah--a private en-
CINE used by the owners of the works for
their own purposes. Thoroughly as An
drews had explored the road, he had no
knowledge of its existence until the mo-
ment when he saw it standing on the side
track not dozen yards away, and looking
as if it was ready to enter upon a race
with our General on equal terms. 1t
was still thirteen miles to Kingston, and
the enemy, if there was any direct pur-
suit, would be able to get an engine there
much sooner than we had supposed posi-
BILE. Several men were gathered about it.
but not enough TO make an assault seem
very formidable to our party. At the
first sight, Knight said to Andrews, eve
had better destroy that and the big
BRIDGE but Andrews refused with the
remark, at won't make any difference"
Nearly all critics of the expedition who
knew of the presence of this locomotive
for a long time I did not, as was shut
up in the box car-are disposed to think
that here Andrews made a most unac-
countable mistake. But IS is far from
certain.
1t must be remembered that the burn
ing of this bridge formed no part of An
drews' original plan, and could have ac-
cOmplished nothing more toward the
furthering Of Mitchel's plans than the
burning of the Oostenaula bridge The
local freight train was now due, and if it
came in sight while we were engaged in
destroying the Yonah, or the bridge,
and getting the alarm, as would be almost
inevitable under the circumstances,
should get away from US and run back to
Kingston, or should run on us and cause
wreck, our situation would be far worse
than with this engine left behind u.s. But
wen If we could be assured that the local
would not come, but remain for us at
Kingston, still the ATTACK here would
alarm the enemy, and we would be fol-
lowed from this point as readily as from
Big Shanty, but eighteen miles further up
the road 1t would be but little more
than an hours gallOp to Kingston, where
train for pursuit would surely be found.
The capture at Big Shanty assured us of
longer start under any circumstances
than seemed possible if we stopped to
strike blow here.
Leaving the engine and bridge behind,
we glided on through Gainesville, a town
of considerable size, where there were
many disappointed passengers on the
platform, and continued without incident
until we reached Cass station The town
Ct Cassville is some distance from the
railroad, but the station was important
for us as the regular place for taking on
wood and water. Here we stopped and
began to wood up. William Russell, the
tender, was naturally curious about the
appearance of such small train running
on the time Of the morning mail, with no
passengers and none of the regular hands.
carefully planned story, with enough of
foundation to make it probable. He
claimed to have been sent by Gen. Beau
regard, who was in desperate straits for
ammunition, to impress q train, have it
loaded with powder and run it through
at lightning speed. Had he been pressed
more closely, he could have produced
passes proving himself worthy of belief.
But it was not necessary to go so far.
The very appearance of Andrews, tall,
commanding and perfectly self possessed,
speaking like one who had long been ac-
customed to authority, was so much like
the ideal southern officer that Russel's
credence was won at once He knew very
well that after such battle as Pittsburg
Landing it was natural that powder
should be scarce, and If it did not come at
once, what more natural than to send for
it? Seeing the impression that he had
made, Andrews, who, of course, did not
work at throwing on wood, but left that
to his companions, asked IL he could not
be supplied with schedule of the road,
as it might be useful. Russell, in his
patriotic fervor, took down and handed
out his own schedule, saying that he
would tsend his shirt to Beauregardn IL
the latter wanted It'll When asked after
ward If he did not suspect man who
made such an unreasonable demand he
answered.: mo; I would as soon have
suspected Jefferson Davis himself as one
who talked with the assurance that An
drews did
We were now within seven miles of
Kingston, resupplied with wood and
water, without having met the slightest
hindrance and with full schedule of the
road. But at Kingston we had more rea-
son to apprehend danger than anywhere
else along the route. A branch road from
Rome connected there with the main
track, and the morning train from that
town would be awaiting our arrival.
This. with the local freight which we
hoped to meet and the complicated
arrangement of the switches, would con-
stitute no small obstacle to our onward
progress, The real difficulties surpassed
expectations. Andrews had made him
self familiar with the minutest working
OF the road at this point, as also at Dali
ton and Chattanooga, and we would soon
be able to see how he would overcome the
hindrances in his way.
We reached Kingston q little ahead Of